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( These FAQ's relate to the GPSU+FNS application only! )

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Administrative Privilege

To have the ability to install and use the GPSu+FNS Tracking Utility on your PC, your user account status should be checked. Once you are logged on, go to the User Accounts in Control Panel by executing Start | Control Panel and then double-clicking on User Accounts.  At the bottom of the User Accounts window check that your Log In Name contains the phrase "Computer administrator"  or "Power user" in the 2nd line.  If not, you will not be able to execute the GPSu+FNS Tracking Utility program and you must arrange proper authorization with your Computer Administrator.

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Chart Naming Convention  

1.  They are identified with a starting letter P for Palm Beach, B for Broward or M for Miami-Dade Counties.

2. The letter designation is followed by a two number designator 01 ------ 09 etc. which identifies the relative geographic position of each chart.  We always start with “01” being the northernmost chart of the County and progressing southward. 

     Note: Some have asked for us to label them with geographic information such as Inlet or feature names but we found this to be too cumbersome and subject to variations in individual preferences.  We are sure you will shortly become accustomed to our methodology .Thank you for your consideration!.

3. The remaining chart designator _Graphic.fns identifies the file as a graphic file with the Florida Near Shore extension .fns.

4. The Charts may also be opened using their corresponding pointer files label *_graphic.xgu.

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Chart Opening Difficulties

NOTE: For this discussion it might be helpful to make the following display adjustments so that you can visualize the events.

     Once you initialize the program and advance past the GPS Navigation Disclaimer, you will be left within the program but with no charts (maps) visible. 

It might be helpful to  exit the "Maximized" (full-screen) mode by clicking on the "maximize ( restore down )" button to the left of the "Red X" close button ( located in upper right corner of display).  Then resize both the tutorial & the GPSU Florida Near Shore windows so that the Tutorial covers the bottom half of your display & the GPSU Florida Near Shore covers the upper half of your display.  In this manner it will be easier to follow  along on this discussion.

On the Menu Bar of GPSU, click on "File" which opens a "drop-down" window which should display as follows:

*  B04_Graphic.fns if using the Broward county CD

When one clicks on the "Open ..." option,  a window appears where the "Look in:" pane should show "FNS_Protected" and the main view pane listing the charts available for viewing.  Select the desired *.fns(xgu) chart you want to see by double clicking on it.

Note:

If the "Look in:" pane does not show the correct folder,  click on  the "drop-down" triangle to the right of the "Look in:" pane. This will display a list of the folders on your PC.  In that list you should see a line stating GPSu+FNS Palm Beach (or Broward if using the Broward County CD) followed by the CD Rom drive letter ( example (D:)). Clicking on that line should then display the contents of the Florida Near Shore CD. The main view pane should list two folders namely FNS_Protected and PB_Charts (or BD_Charts if using the Broward County CD).  Double Click on the FNS_Protected folder and look at the "Files of type:" window.  It should point to "Encoded GPSU files (xgu)".  If not, select this option using the "drop-down" window.  Now, all you should see displayed is files of this type.  Double click on the chart of your choice for viewing.

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Chart Orientation on PC Display

Charts are orientated on the PC monitor with East at the top, North to the left, West to the bottom and South to the right.

Why?

Normal monitors have a 4:3 aspect ratio; that is they are wider than they are high. Our charts are wider in the N/S direction than they are in the E/W direction therefore we chose to orientate them this way!  Just imagine when viewing them that you are standing on the shore and looking seaward.

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Chart Printing (PDF Files Only)

Only the PDF style charts listed in the GPSU+FNS "Near-Shore" Program, program section #1 are printable but they are printable at a maximum resolution of 4000 DPI which should satisfy users desiring to carry a printed chart aboard their vessel.  The charts in the other two menu (program) items are encrypted and further protected from being printable to protect the publisher from unauthorized duplication of these programs.  Unfortunately, there are those unscrupulous individuals out there who do not respect the U.S. copyright laws making this protection necessary.  We will, on an individual users request, support printing of any particular feature (s).  Please contact the author.

You may use the "Zoom In" tool to magnify any portion of a chart and then print the zoomed image to a file or printer of your choice.  Make sure you set the Print Range to "Current view" and Page Scaling to "Fit to paper" if you want to print a full printed page view.

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Copying Charts to PC Hard Drive

The program is delivered on a proprietary CD and the GPSU+FNS application must be run using the files located on this CD in the FNS_Protected directory.  The CD therefore must remain mounted in the CD-Rom drawer. The charts will open only from the CD.  This feature protects the author from unauthorized, illegal distribution. See the HELP section of the PDF file for lost or damaged CD-RX replacement policy.

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Maneuvering Around a Chart: ( GPS Tracking Utility )

1. The charts always open in a 100% magnification window. The whole chart is not displayed but the magnification allows one to see the center of the chart with enough detail to get started.

2. The controls located in the upper right hand corner of the display allow you to perform all maneuvering functions.

3. The red arrows allow you to pan in the East direction ( Up-Arrow ) plus seven other major compass direction progressing clockwise from SE through NE. (remember, East is UP!)

4.  The + and – Magnifying glass symbols allows you to blow-up or reduce in size the image being displayed.  The window to their right shows the current magnification level and the unchecked box to the left of the word “Magnifier”, if checked, allows you to magnify any area of the chart as though you were using a magnifying glass.

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     Problem Opening GPS Tracking Utility

There are two known causes of this problem.  Both problems exhibit the same display reaction.  The Main Menu blanks momentarily and then re-appears without the program seeming to execute. Causes & cures listed below.

1. Insufficient RAM memory. If you have many processes (programs) running in the background, you should try closing those processes and restarting the GPS Tracking Utility. Most notably this condition has been observed when high memory usage programs such as AOL are running in the background.

 IMPORTANT: Remember to FIRST close the Main Menu and eject the CD by clicking on Main Menu, item #4 to properly exit the program!  Otherwise, the Windows Operating System may hang-up!

2. A Computer Processor glitch.  In this case, the Task Bar at the bottom of the display will show that GPS Utility is running but the familiar "License conditions for GPS Utility" disclaimer will not appear.  Your first option is to double click on the task bar symbol "GPS Utility" which may cure this condition.  If that does not work then:

   1. Open the Windows Task Manager by simultaneously clicking the three key combination "ctrl, alt, del" which will open a Windows Task Manager window..

   2. Under the Applications folder in this window, highlight GPS Utility (if not already highlighted) and click on "End Task". followed by clicking  on End Now in the resulting drop-down box window.

   3. Close the Windows Task Manager window and the Task Bar symbol "GPS Utility" should have disappeared.

   4. Restart the GPS Tracking Utility program by clicking on Main Menu, item #3.

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Number of Open Charts Allowed

The Florida Near Shore Special Edition allows only two maps (and their associated waypoint window) to be open at any one time.  This limitation can be overcome if one purchases the "Registered User" agreement from GPS Utility, Ltd. ( We did not feel that the majority of users would need this option which currently costs $55.00 from the GPS Utility program provider)

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Saving the correct Files Location folder

Some users have inadvertently changed the default Files Location directory and have a problem resetting it properly.  The following procedure should correct that situation.

To reestablish the correct  Files Location directory so that the next time you start up the program it will point to that directory, execute File | Folders... , make sure the Description window has Maps(Default)  highlighted, and then click on the Browse...  button.  Choose the default folder to be the fns_protected directory on the CD-Rom drive where the program CD is mounted (you will have to navigate to the correct folder which is usually found by expanding the My Computer button to see details).   Then, as long as the Options | Save on Exit  line has a check mark ahead of it (the default setting), the correct charts location directory will be saved when you exit the program.

The next time you start up the program it will point to the correct directory provided you don't already have a file with an incorrectly listed directory as the top item, position 1., in the box below the Exit label (Example C:\.... etc).  If that is the case, simply manually direct yourself to the correct CD-Rom FNS-Protected directory as found above and open a desired chart file (*.xgu).   This action will replace the previous position 1. item with a correctly located chart file and now, as long as you do not make this mistake again, the program will always point to the correct Files Location directory.

To reduce the number of file types you must search through when searching the File Open list, change the option to the right of the Files of Type: label to be: Encoded GPSU files (xgu).  This is approximately the 17th item in the long list of possible types.

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Want to mark a site ?

Highlight the inverted “ ┴ “ at the upper left corner of the display. Position the cursor over a feature you wish to record and click. This action will open a data dialogue window allowing you to enter & store a new waypoint in the waypoint window.  You must either manually record or upload these waypoints to a GPS before closing the chart, otherwise they will be lost! 

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Where are you?

At the top center of the monitor display is a window containing GPS coordinates. Move your cursor around the display and watch these coordinates change.

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